Topic: Foxconn

Difficulties in manufacturing the iPhone 5 are expected to affect Apple's gross margins for the near term, as the company is predicted to absorb some of the quality control costs associated with producing its latest handset.

Foxconn on Tuesday revealed an internal investigation found the company illegally hired some underage workers as young as 14 years old, and said that immediate measures have been taken to resolve the issue.

Foxconn International Holdings, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology and the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world, will reportedly take orders to build certain iPhone models in the company's first-ever Apple partnership.

Foxconn officials on Saturday issued a statement denying a strike hit the company's Zhengzhou iPhone plant on Friday, claiming instead that the factory was the site of two small altercations days earlier which had no impact on production.

A new report out of the Far East claims that shipments of Apple's next-generation iPhone are likely to be less than 15 million in the third quarter of 2012 due to some alleged complications in producing the device.

A report released on Tuesday from the Fair Labor Association says Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn has corrected some 284 infractions, including steps to create a safer workplace, since the group last audited the factories in February.

Reports from China claim that thousands of job seekers are lining up outside of Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn's Chengdu plant in hopes of landing a position at the factory as summer hiring ramps up ahead of rumored next-generation iPhone and smaller iPad launches.